HPDM.Framework will damage your computer

After 4 days of trying, I finally discovered a fix. This is in regards to the horrific snafu between HP & Apple resulting in HP printers being unable to print with macOS Catalina or Mohave. If you have an old HP printer the following might help you.

I've tried all the fixes I could find for the last 4 days on many message boards and could not get a fix to work until today. This took about 6 hours of trial and error. I have a 12 yr old Color LaserJet 3600 and a 10 yr old PhotoSmart Premium multi-machine. I run a MacBookPro with Catalina 10.15.7.

Most fixes for old printers talked about deleting the printer in System Preferences/Printers & Scanners, then deleting the HP files in Library/Printers, rebooting, then downloading the HP Drivers Pkg 5.1 and then re-installing the printer thru System Preferences/Printers & Scanners. I tried multiple versions of that scenario and nothing worked.

My last idea before I gave up entirely worked. Here's what I did:

Try to print something again and when one of those annoying error boxes ("xxxx.xx will damage your computer") comes up, you have two choices -- "Show in Finder" or "OK". Choose "Show in Finder".

That will take you to a hidden part of the Library which will show you that file inside a hidden HP folder. 

Now with that Finder window still open, I went back to System Preferences/Printers & Scanners and deleted both HP printers.

THEN I went back to the open Finder folder to DELETE THE ENTIRE "hidden" HP FOLDER. That's the key. (Every time I tried it before I simply went to Library/Printers and there was only a single file to delete for each printer.

Once I had that entire hidden folder deleted -- the rest was easy.

Reboot again just to make sure everything comes up clean.

Open System Preferences/Printers & Scanner and wait a bit. Both my printers appeared on their own. (They were both attached via USB.)

When I tried to print to the first printer I was encouraged that no pop-up errors came up. However a dialog box did appear which asked if I wanted to download drivers direct from Apple. Definitely YES.

It took a minute for those to download.

Then I had to click on the printer icon in the task bar because it couldn't print without the new drivers. (I might have this part backwards because it's done now and I don't want to recreate the entire scenario. Maybe you have to click on the printer icon first to see the message asking if you want to download drivers direct from Apple. One way or another, it worked. You need the drivers direct from Apple.)

This snafu between HP and Apple is a nightmare scenario for HP users around the globe. I called HP support this morning and got no help from a very nice rep who basically said printers that old weren't worth the effort. I was ready to give up after that phone call, but that's when I had that one more idea about wondering where that "Show in Finder" choice took me.

Once I had my first printer running, I just had to reinstall the 2nd printer in System Preferences/Printers & Scanners and go through the same process to download drivers directly from Apple.

Good luck to everyone who is still struggling with this.

Hi Strgzr,

Apple and HP have recently posted their own possible solutions.

If your HP printer doesn't work and you see a warning that HP software '...will damage your computer' - Apple Support

Within that page is a link to HP's page.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06960563

My guess is HP's uninstaller trashes the entire hp subfolder in /Library/Printers/, which would remove all of the now broken driver components. You then reinstall the drivers from the newer, working installers.

This is something I thought of mentioning myself before these pages existed, but was not keen on sending inexperienced users into the Library folder to delete things.

Here is how I solved it. When the warning is shown - click "show in finder". When Finder opens move the Framework to Trash. It removes the framerr we irk and all extensions. Then reinstall the printer drivers. Worked for me. Good luck.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06960563

Tells you how to fix. It worked for me

After software update I started getting HPDM.framework popups that can't be deleted. Cannot use my printer because it's blocked. I tried downloading ComboCleaner but it won't load.

Using Catalina 10.15.7 on an iMac. No matter what I tried, including reinstalling authentic HP drivers from HP, no luck, cannot print! This Malware (?) goes through most or all the HP driver/install files. The one on my screen right now is "HPDM.framework will damage your computer". Cannot put in the trash. Reinstalling the HP Easy Start did not work. This looks like Malware, but it prevents me from finding the offending filename or anything else! I need an iMAC that actually prints. Anyone have this problem in Catalina 10.15.7?

No, they won't damage anything. It was a screwup by HP.

From sources familiar with the matter, HP Inc asked Apple to revoke its printer driver code-signing certificates. It appears this request backfired as it left users unable to print. An HP Inc spokesperson said on Friday night:

We unintentionally revoked credentials on some older versions of Mac drivers. This caused a temporary disruption for those customers and we are working with Apple to restore the drivers. In the meantime, we recommend users experiencing this problem to uninstall the HP driver and use the native AirPrint driver to print to their printer.

A fix was provided rather quickly. Do the following:

A. Get the most recent HP drivers, either from:

     ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software12/HP_Quick_Start/osx/Installations/Essentials/hp-printer-essentials-S-5_14_8_4.pkg

          or

     HP Printer Drivers v5.1 for OS X

          or

     System Preferences > Software Update (if you don't see it, press Command+R)

B. Run the installer.

C. When the installer completes, go to System Preferences/Printers & Scanners, highlight the HP printer and remove it. Then add it back. This is necessary because otherwise it will continue to use the now unsigned drivers and it will appear that the problem has not been fixed. Apparently installing the update does not remove the old drivers.

A note on AirPrint: Your Mac may say it can’t find the AirPrint printer. If that should happen, reboot your router.

Kurt, I ran the installer, removed the printer, re-added and the warning window is still there, if I hit OK it pops up again. Over and over. I still can't figure out how to get rid of it. :( Is there a time for a restart somewhere in this process or something else? I tried but it's still there.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I also have a (slightly) older HP all-in-one printer. After trying the various solutions posted in other answers without success, I finally tried your fix. It worked...and I only wish that I'd seen your post earlier.

What does this message mean? HPdriverCore.framework will damage computer. It won't let me print. Help

sshamey@ymail.com

Same question as I asked yesterday along with others. Help, please.

The same problem that everybody else has been having framework will damage your computer. This happened after the OS update. Reinstalling printer does nothing. Please help.

Same problem. What do I do?

Thank you so much, this process completely solved my issues.